Talk:Effective frequency

Title of article? History of EF?
This article should be titled - A history of the concept of effective frequency.

It contains a discussion of three historical contributions to the development of the concept, but stops short of discussing contemporary conceptualisations. Instead, it simply provides a list of references - presumably so that the reader can go and figure it out for themselves. Modern media planners define effective frequency as "the minimum number of media exposures for the desired communication goal to be achieved." For anyone studying media planning, this article would not be very useful.

The discussion also contains errors of interpretation.


 * John Phillip Jones - uses empirical data to show that one exposure is sufficient frequency for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) provided that the exposure occurs relatively close in time to the point when consumers make purchase decisions. (See John P. Jones (1995a), When Ads Work: New Proof that Advertising Triggers Sales, New York: Lexington Books and/or The Ultimate Secrets of Advertising Sage, 2001. As it currently stands, the article misses the key point in J P Jones' significant contribution to advertising theory.


 * Research by Jones and others, which shows that the timing of the exposure actually matters, has led to a new concept in media planning - recency planning (See, for example Erwin Ephron (1997), "Recency Planning," Journal of Advertising Research, 37(4), 61-65. In the current article, the concept of recency is not even mentioned.

Any article that covers the concept of effective frequency really should distinguish between simple frequency and effective frequency, and contain more than a passing mention of recency. Ideally, the article would also consider the interactions between frequency and reach. There is an extensive body of research findings on effective frequency (and recency) that doesn't even get a mention in this article. Very disappointing!

Other issues that could be canvassed in this article include:


 * Contemporary definitions of effective frequency
 * Current research findings - brief summary of key findings
 * Effective frequency and its role in media planning
 * Setting frequency objectives in the media plan
 * Interactions between frequency and reach (gross ratings points)
 * How is frequency measured?

For a useful and accessible summary of the concepts of frequency, effective frequency and recency as used in media planning, see http://www.admedia.org/. This source also has an excellent bibliography. BronHiggs (talk) 01:04, 18 December 2016 (UTC)
 * That admedia.org article may be a copyvio. See External_links/Noticeboard. Regardless, it's 10 years old. --Ronz (talk) 17:17, 9 February 2017 (UTC)